Dr. Hook

Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show
The band on the cover of Rolling Stone.
Background information
Also known as	Dr. Hook
Origin	New Jersey, United States
Genres	Rock, country rock, southern rock, soft rock
Years active	1967–1985
Labels	Columbia Records, Capitol Records, CBS, Casablanca Records
Associated acts	Shel Silverstein
Past members	Billy Francis Ray Sawyer George Cummings Bobby Dominguez Jimmy "Wolf Cub" Allen Dennis Locorriere Popeye Phillips Joseph Olivier John "Jay" David Rik Elswit Jance Garfat John Wolters Bob 'Willard' Henke Rod Smarr Walter Hartman Nancy Nash Carol Parks Keith Austin Mo Thaxton

Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show, shortened from 1975 onwards to Dr. Hook, were an American rock band, formed in Union City, New Jersey. They enjoyed considerable commercial success in the 1970s with hit singles including "Sylvia's Mother," "The Cover of Rolling Stone," "Sharing the Night Together," "A Little Bit More" and "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman." In addition to their own material, Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show performed songs written by the poet Shel Silverstein.

The band had eight years of regular chart hits, in both the U.S. (where their music was played on top-40, easy listening and, to a lesser extent, country music outlets) and throughout the English-speaking world, including Canada, Australia and the UK. Their music spanned several genres, mostly novelty songs and acoustic ballads in their early years; their greatest success came with their later material, mostly consisting of disco-influenced soft rock, which the band recorded under the shortened name Dr. Hook.

The founding core of the band consisted of three Southerners who had worked together in a band called The Chocolate Papers: George Cummings, Ray Sawyer and Billy Francis. They had played the South, up and down the East Coast, and into the Midwest, before breaking up. Cummings, who moved to New Jersey with the plan of forming a new band, brought back Sawyer to rejoin him. They then took on future primary vocalist, New Jersey native Dennis Locorriere, at first as a bass player. Francis, who had returned South after the Chocolate Papers broke up, returned to be the new band's keyboardist.